In recent years, elastomeric polymers have found wide application in tissue engineering applications, in part due to the ability of some elastomeric polymers to mimic the elastic nature of many human soft tissues, such as heart valves, blood vessels, tendons, cartilage, and the bladder. However, many existing elastomeric polymers exhibit poor mechanical strength. In addition, the mechanical strength of some elastomeric polymers can be further reduced when the polymers are molded into porous scaffolds and/or used in vivo in a wet state, significantly limiting these materials' utility for some tissue engineering applications. Further, many previous polymers cannot effectively reduce or prevent microbial proliferation or bacterial infection in vivo. Separately formulated antibiotics or other antimicrobial materials must therefore often be coated onto, encapsulated within, or otherwise associated with such polymers. Moreover, some polymeric compositions treated in this manner can have limited antimicrobial effectiveness and/or exhibit degraded mechanical performance.
In addition, the repair of large segmental bone defects remains one of the most relevant challenges in reconstructive orthopedic surgery, but the management and treatment of such bone defects have presented various challenges in recent years. Bone is a relatively rigid and lightweight organ optimized to withstand external loads, and some previous bioengineered materials have been unable to match native bone composition and/or performance for various biomedical applications. For example, many previous materials are unable to provide adequate mechanical strength, minimize inflammatory responses, promote bone regeneration, and/or fully integrate with the surrounding tissue. In addition, some previous materials can include only a limited amount of bioceramic or other inorganic material without becoming too brittle for many load bearing applications.
Therefore, improved bioengineering polymer compositions and methods for treating conditions such as segmental bone defects are needed.